A Walk In The Woods

[Emerson Bigills]

I have read the book twice and find Bryson very humorous and obviously a great writer. I do have some gripes about him as a prospective AT thru hiker. For an educated man that spent considerable time learning the history of the trail and geology of the area, he never grasped any concept of the trail culture, nor simple fundamentals that increase one's chances for success. Picking a partner before he leaves is not the smartest move, but picking a former aquaintance from decades before that has no interest in hiking and is grossly out of shape, only confirms his ignorance of proper preparation or just an indignant attitude that he will succeed.

I never felt that Bryson succeeded or even attempted to develop relationships with the other hikers. From what I have read on this site and talking with people attempting thru's, those relationships are the most enduring aspect of their journey.

If Bryson, as Muddy presents, only wanted to have a subject for yet another best selling book, then he succeeded. I must confess that I relish in the thought it was our southern mountains that wore down the condescending elitest, who took great pride in demeaning those on the trail and many of the locals that support the hiking community. I would say Karma is a bit__, but Bryson laughed all the way to the bank.

[Astro]

Knowing what causes some people to fail is as important as knowing how others succeed.

Failures are often better teachers and more interesting stories.

Once had a computer programming teacher who would get excited when you mad a mistake. As he would work with you to correct it he would say that this how you really learn things. Said he felt sorry for the preferect striaght A students who never made a mistake, because they never learned anything.

[Astro]

his hike was not a failure. i think he accomplished what he wanted to do.

Yeah, he made a lot of money and increased his number of readers and reputation.

Great writer, just not much inspiration for a thru-hiker and often accused of getting loose with the facts.

[Papa D]

Book was funny enough. I still think it's over-rated by a lot. To be honest, it was essentially about some ill prepared yellow-blazers. Read the "barefoot sisters" books instead IMO

[Fur Queue]

I can't hear a bad word said about this book. My 15 year old son came to this book via my recommendation of another Bryson tome....he made me read it....and told me thats what he wanted to do next (now this) year...we had never hiked before!...I can't tell you how brilliant it is when your kid comes to you with a ridiculous and crazy idea...that might just be possible.....and it awakes the old adventurer in you! My former madcap travels were more exotic and much less taxing but I am now totally inspired and knee deep in packages and research material...we have a long way to go, lots of prep, but we have the time and the inspiration thanks to Bill Bryson! What a failure!

[starbright]

I liked A Walk in the Woods because even though he didn't complete a thru he did what he set out to do hike the AT even though it was'nt all of it. I enjoyed the history that he gave through out the book about different places along the AT. A lot of the history I knew from school but didn't know how much of it occured along the AT. They don't give all that info in school. All in all it was a great book when you needed a laugh.

[Spirit Bear]

Does anyone else find reading other people's failures on the AT distracting? Maybe because I'm 42, but I don't want to hear about how some guy, no matter how good of writer/researcher, failed or was overcome by the task at hand. It gets me down and I feel like there are going to be plenty of times on the AT where I'm going to need my own positive reinforcement to continue. I don't know for some reason this just bugs me.

My opinion of his book, and I will tell him if I ever meet him. He made a deal to write a book about thru hiking the AT before he started. He quit #1 at clingmans dome then quit #2 after shanendoah, then #3 in the 100 mile wilderness. Because he made the commitment to write the book with his publisher he filled 50% of the book with crap, research to make the book as interesting as he could. If him and kats finished the hike it would be an epic book and story. but it isnt.

[lobotomized]

My opinion of his book, and I will tell him if I ever meet him. He made a deal to write a book about thru hiking the AT before he started. He quit #1 at clingmans dome then quit #2 after shanendoah, then #3 in the 100 mile wilderness. Because he made the commitment to write the book with his publisher he filled 50% of the book with crap, research to make the book as interesting as he could. If him and kats finished the hike it would be an epic book and story. but it isnt.

Spot on. And he tries to justify quitting the whole way

[lkn4air]

Does anyone else find reading other people's failures on the AT distracting? Maybe because I'm 42, but I don't want to hear about how some guy, no matter how good of writer/researcher, failed or was overcome by the task at hand. It gets me down and I feel like there are going to be plenty of times on the AT where I'm going to need my own positive reinforcement to continue. I don't know for some reason this just bugs me.

to answer that question no doesn't bother me to read about the failed thru hikes. as stated before failures have more important info. as far as the book goes parts were funny but really didn't like the book. i dont know what Bill is really like but he comes across in the book as an elitest snob. dont care that he didn't thru hike the trail. though that is what he set out to do. makes it like most people that try a thru hike? about 80% failure rate right. I also like to say failing a thru hike attempt does make someone a failure.

[lkn4air]

to answer that question no doesn't bother me to read about the failed thru hikes. as stated before failures have more important info. as far as the book goes parts were funny but really didn't like the book. i dont know what Bill is really like but he comes across in the book as an elitest snob. dont care that he didn't thru hike the trail. though that is what he set out to do. makes it like most people that try a thru hike? about 80% failure rate right. I also like to say failing a thru hike attempt does make someone a failure.

OOPS i meant does not make you a failure. Most people don't have the stones to even give such a daunting task an attempt.

[Kingbee]

For a real twist, read "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon ", by Stephen King.

[kofritz]

I thoroughly enjoyed a Walk in the Woods. I did not conclude the AT effort was a failure but was just another non-complete AT-HYOH. there were plenty of funnies that are opposite of some of the hard efforts required to cover the AT. i was just disappointed how upper ET was dissed. the upper ET sections were totally beautiful and the people wonderful, based on my experience. i loved the Mountain Marching Mamas book and will read the Odyessa book soon....

[TheBigHiker]

Ok... I didn't think this thread would take off like this. I should clarify a bit here, before I continue to sound like I'm whining. The thing that really got me was how many people told me I HAD to read the book because he hiked the AT. One woman told me he hiked the whole thing. My wife's cousin said it was highly recommended reading. I did enjoy the book. Actually I'm about 4/5 of the way through and will finish it today. I just felt like it was kind of a dismal experience on a lot of levels. I laughed many times. There were funny parts when they were hiking, but I just found it sad that he drove to these places and hiked. I was pretty massively disappointed they blew off Damascus. I wanted to hear his take on it. I simply didn't understand why everyone said this was such a MUST READ!

Anyway I have to say this is why I love this forum. It gives me so much perspective I can't even begin to give enough thanks. From the person who said I should just stay home if something like this bothers me without knowing anything about me really to the people who completely agree with me about this book, every single opinion expressed here has taught me something. Here is what I learned.

1. Worry about myself.

2. Hike my own hike and don't judge others.

3. Others may judge me but it's my own hike, worry about myself etc.

4. stay on my path and do what I need to do.

5. believe in myself.

6. Failure is in the eye of the participant, as in only the hiker themselves can say whether or not they failed.

I've had to adjust my expectations. Initially I was convinced I would start out going 12-14 miles a day. Now I plan to get into it more slowly and go about 8. After walking up mountains here in the Seattle area, I know what it means to climb 1200 feet and go down 1200 feet. My first day will have more elevation change than that. Probably the main thing I took from the book is they kept going even if they were ill-prepared and didn't have a clue. Thanks everyone.

[Deadeye]

If you read A Walk in the Woods and expect it to be about hiking the AT, you will probably be disappointed. If you read the book and expect it to be about middle age, friendship, dealing with high hopes and middling realities, and doing a bit of walking, you might enjoy it. I'm middle-aged, so I can relate to having great, grand plans in life turn out to yield merely pretty good results. Don't expect Bryson to be Andrew Skurka or even Colin Fletcher.

+1 And considering how many people start a thru-hike and don't manage to finish, the book very successfully depicted that aspect of hiking the trail.

[Dogwood]

I'm growing tired of opinions that rehash and beat to death Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods." It's time to over analyze a new book written BY ME. It's titled "A Trek In The Woods." It's in bookstores now. Or, send me $19.95 and I'll mail you an autographed copy.

[Feral Bill]

Bryson is a respected professional writer, AWITW, and its success, shows this. Honestly, his portrayal of trail life is very close to what I read on Whiteblaze and elsewhere. That said, there are a bunch of AT books to read. First stop, The Barefoot Sisters.

[Spirit Bear]

A walk in the woods is a good book for someone that has no interest in hiking the AT. Everyone who really loves that book sees hikers the way Bryson sees them. Also the depiction of the south was a bit over the top however I did laugh at the part with the ride into Hiawassee in the Comoro.

I thought he was spot on with the REI outdoor sales guys though and the gear geeks you run into in shelters. That place in Franklen, I have never been to though but want to check it out the first chance I get.

Im still a thru hiker wanna bee though, got the fever in January of 2012 on my first day hike up to big ceder mtn.

[Miner]

That book opened my eyes to how you could actually thru-hike a long trail rather then just doing short sections at a time. The first time I read it, I found it pretty entertaining though was kind of disappointed that he didn't finish. However, many years later, after having done a thru-hike of the PCT and was thinking about doing the AT I picked it up again to read. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much. I had changed to much to appreciate many aspects of the book. Still think its worth reading, but not the best book out there if you want to know what thru-hiking is like.

[TheBigHiker]

I'm growing tired of opinions that rehash and beat to death Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods." It's time to over analyze a new book written BY ME. It's titled "A Trek In The Woods." It's in bookstores now. Or, send me $19.95 and I'll mail you an autographed copy.

Sounds amazing. I'll check it out.

[Tinker]

his hike was not a failure. i think he accomplished what he wanted to do.

Right on the money (like Bryson is all about the money). He hiked on the AT to write a book about hiking the AT. He made lots of folks laugh. He made his money. He moved on.